Hidden Venice
Benvenuti nella Venezia più particolare ed interessante.Here are some things to discover about the city and its inhabitants;
What are our typical dishes and where do we do our shopping, how do we spend our free time, where do we take a leisurely stroll in the less frequented places, where do we have coffee or ice cream on spring days admiring enchanting views; What are our traditions and what are our most important events, how we try to keep our town clean and how we try to keep history alive through groups of wonderful and generous people who dedicate themselves every day for free by taking care of historical relics and boats;
1) There is an endless choice of food on our tables;
The traditional typical Venetian dishes are also prepared in the kitchens of restaurants, trattorias and osterias and in this regard one of the most typical dishes are the “sarde in saor“. In the old days, when there was no refrigeration, the fish, after frying, would be submerged in a mixture of onions and vinegar; this process, which kept the food longer, has remained a very tasty dish even today;
Fegato alla Veneziana with polenta
Another typical dish
The gò (goby) is a fish from our lagoon; Small and dark, it lives in the muddy seabed and is considered of little value as it is full of thorns, but to enjoy its delicious flavour anyway, ‘risotto di gò’ has been invented;
The good broth from these fish, mashed well after boiling, will be the basis of the excellent risotto;
Where to taste
Would you like to taste the true flavours of the sea and the lagoon? One of the most typical trattorias is the historic “Alla Madonna‘, just a few steps from the Rialto Bridge, run by the same family since 1954, and every morning, passing through the Calle della Madonna, the doors are open as early as 8.00 am and the entire staff is seated at the tables with mountains of spider crabs to clean and shrimp to shuck;
A truly fantastic job that keeps the club’s good name high;
Enjoy your meal
2) In the heart of the city pulses the fish market
an infinite variety of delicacies from the sea and lagoon is displayed on the stalls arranged under the beautiful early 20th century “loggia” (Veneto inside)
3) and here is where you can admire extraordinary sunsets or enjoy some sunshine
To the Zattere to taste the famous gianduiotto on the terrace of the zattere or at San Pietro di Castello, an area little frequented by tourists, a little off the beaten track. It is a small island connected to the rest of the city by two long bridges often hosting movie sets or, again, the field San Francesco della Vigna with its beautiful convent with two cloisters and the city’s oldest vine (13th century).)
6) a long series of events and popular manifestations accompany the lives of Venetians: from the Venice Carnival of very ancient origin, to the feast of the Madonna della salute, celebrated since 1630 as a sign of thanksgiving to the Madonna for the end of the terrible epidemic: the plague. From the ‘Redentore’, a celebration of the liberation from the plague of 1577 (the periodic construction of a long pontoon bridge linking the Zattere to Giudecca) to the Regata Storica, historical regatta presumably dating back to 942, which over time became a real oar competition with a parade of oarsmen; vintage boats
7) (Door-to-door rubbish collection)
… And despite the lack of practicality, even Venice manages to differentiate municipal waste collection;
Every day in many parts of the city, for a few hours in the morning, there are collection points: every other day for paper and plastic, and daily for dry and wet waste – After the stationary period, there is door-to-door collection;
This eliminates the abandonment of garbage bags along calli, foundations, fields and fields.
8) Postal Service
The service works in the same way as in other cities, the only difference being that the postman does not travel around in a car or on a scooter but on foot, usually pulling a trolley for the transport of envelopes or packages (transport barges are used for bulky parcels);
Of course, you have to know the city very well because of the numbers; Venice is subdivided into sestieri and some have more than 6000 numbers!
It really is a treasure hunt to find out where, for example, No. 1 in the sestiere of San Marco or Castello is;